


every time i rise i see you falling

by Suicix



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Angst, Friendship, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:04:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7487313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suicix/pseuds/Suicix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wade might have a title in his hands, but he never thought he'd get anything like that while Drew's left with what seems like nothing.</p>
<p>Set circa very late March 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	every time i rise i see you falling

**Author's Note:**

> i had many a sad feeling while writing this. MANY.
> 
> when i say this is set "very late march 2011" i mean like, post-25th march smackdown (when wade won the ic title) but before wm27 (3rd april).

It’s a surprise to see Drew waiting backstage, hovering over by the wall like he wants to talk. Well – it shouldn’t be surprising to see him, given that they both work here, but still. It’s surprising that he might have something he wants to say to Wade.

Wade thinks the last time they properly interacted was in the Elimination Chamber, and that was over a month ago. It was over a month ago, and it was in a match, so it doesn’t really count. They were both trying to win, both willing to hurt each other for the prize, both so hungry for a victory on such a platform. Well. Drew’s been hungry for any kind of victory recently. God knows he needs it. God knows he needs it in any capacity these days.

“All right?” Wade nods a greeting and steps closer to Drew.

“Look at you,” Drew says, eyes flicking down from Wade’s face to his championship. “A champion at last.”

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Wade tells him, tightening the hold of his fingers on the metal and leather. He decides not to mention that he won the title from the same person that Drew lost this very belt to, even if there was another reign in between. That would hurt, and he doesn’t want to hurt Drew. He only would if it was his own title or stable or career on the line, if he had something to gain from it. People love to paint him as brutal, unfeeling, as Nexus’ ruthless former leader, but really, he can only be that when there’s a cause, when there’s a good reason to.

“It was. Congratulations.”

Wade wishes there was something he could congratulate Drew for in return. He just nods again, and Drew doesn’t wait for him to answer.

“Suppose you’re looking for something like that you can say to me.”

“It’s too bad there isn’t. You deserve more than what they’re giving you, y’know.”

At that, Drew rolls his eyes, makes a noise that seems to say _yeah_ , he _does_ know. He lowers his voice when he next speaks.

“It’s just. I’m supposed to _be_ something, aye? And yet they think they can get away with treating me like I’m some sort of expendable nothing the moment. Like – like that’s what most of us are.”

Wade considers it. He can understand why Drew might feel that way. He’s starting to feel it a bit himself, actually, even with his title win. And he’s felt it before: it sounds a lot like his time on NXT. A lot like what drove him to form Nexus.

“So you listened, back then. To everything I complained about on that show, about all the shit they made us do, to–”

“Aye.” Drew interrupts him. “Of course I did.” He smiles, but it’s more… more _sad_ than anything else. It’s there in his eyes, the blue of a storm at sea rather than of a clear, cloudless sky. There’s a pause, long enough to notice the silence but not long enough to come up with the right words to fill it. _Any_ words to fill it, in fact, because Drew lets his eyes dart about as if to check if anyone else is around (there isn’t) and then leans in to press his lips to Wade’s.

It’s gentle, it’s only for a moment, it’s – it’s nothing, really, and yet it’s so much at the same time. Wade’s reminded of how much he _misses_ Drew sometimes. Whatever they had, it was _something_ , and Wade wasn’t ready to let go of it, doesn’t know if they’ll ever manage to get it back. They debuted at different times, on different shows, and fell off of the mutual path they were on and onto new ones, entirely different ones. He always thought they’d make it and that they’d make it together, but now they’re just a prophecy that looks like it will go unfulfilled and an attempt to make some change that crumbled into nothing. Maybe there’ll be some more chances for them in the future, but so far nothing’s happened like Wade thought it would.

Sometimes, he wants to suggest that they share a car on the way to the next arena, that they take the same flight back to Florida sometime, but he can’t. He’s got a team, got people who are relying on him to be there. The Corre might say there’s no leader, that it wasn’t like it was before with Nexus, but Wade knows that’s a lie. He knows there’s a leader and that it’s him. He’s the one with the singles title, after all.

They’re just looking at each other now, neither of them quite sure of what to do next. The kiss was a surprise, after all, and even Drew looks a little taken aback by it though he’s the one who instigated it. Wade wonders if Drew’s thinking the same thing (if he’s _feeling_ the same thing), if he’s thinking about how it could be if things were different.

Drew clears his throat.

“As I said. Congratulations. And good luck with that,” he says, nodding at the title belt again.

“Yeah.” Wade nods back. “Good luck to you, too.”

Drew snorts, as if the very idea of _good luck_ is preposterous.

“As if I’m gonna have any. They’re not gonna give me even a hint of a chance ever again, are they?”

“You – you don’t actually know that they won’t,” says Wade, because it’s true. Nothing’s certain here. This could just be a short, insignificant slump for Drew. In a year, he could be the world champion he’s meant to be.

“And you don’t know that they _will_ ,” Drew retorts, as if it’s as simple as that. It shouldn’t be as simple as that, and the fact that it is to Drew is painful. He was always the one with the big dreams about coming here, the one who was meant to make it, who was _chosen_.

Wade isn’t – he isn’t a goddamn _optimist_ , and he never has been, but he’ll be one for Drew. He opens his mouth again, searching for some words, but before he can protest any more about how wrong the powers that be are to be treating Drew like this, about how much more Drew deserves from them, Drew’s gone.


End file.
